Boston bombing victims to be remembered at 9/11 event in Rindge

RINDGE — The four people who died in the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath in April will be remembered in a September 11 memorial service at Cathedral of the Pines on Wednesday.

Remember to Remember September 11 is a reading of the names of the 2,977 people who were killed by the terrorist attack against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and has been taking place at the outdoor cathedral every Sept. 11 since 2008.

The memorial will begin at 8:40 a.m., six minutes ahead of the usual 8:46 a.m. start time to mark Sept. 11 so that the names of the four victims who perished as a result of the Boston Marathon bombing can be read, said organizer James Pelletier, a Massachusetts resident.

Pelletier volunteered at Ground Zero in New York City immediately after the 9/11 attacks and helped organized the first memorial in New York City.

In the years following the attack he helped organize the recording of the names that are now played at Sept. 11 memorials across the country.

Pelletier plans to attend the Cathedral of the Pines event but has also helped organize the Sept. 11 memorials at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Mass., one in Sharon, Mass., and one at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Mass.

All four memorials plan to start early to include the Boston Marathon bombing victims, he said.

“That’s something we’ve all agreed to do. The marathon people killed will become part of what we do,” he said.

Pelletier will read the bombing victims names in Rindge.

“So I will read their names just prior to the reading of the Sept. 11 names and this is sort of in the tradition of Memorial Day as the years went by and the wars went by Memorial Day grew and grew,” he said. “Anytime an American is killed on American soil by a terrorist attack we will add those people’s names to the memorial. This is part of what we have to live with now.”

On the recordings, the 9/11 victims’ names are read by actress Betsy Palmer, actor Jerry Orbach, Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at The Pentagon, Public Affairs Officer Alan Hicks of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and volunteers at the New York Unit of the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic organization. The reading takes approximately three hours.

Pelletier encourages people to attend the remembrance even it is only for a few minutes.

“Even if it’s just 15 minutes, come by and pay your respects for a few minutes,” he said.

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